


The Stranger

by ignorxnus



Category: Sherlock - Fandom
Genre: Apocalypse, Johnlock - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:33:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25059310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignorxnus/pseuds/ignorxnus
Summary: The world is torn apart by war and they have reverted back to rations and shared accomodation, Sherlock Holmes someone accustomed to not following the rules, ends up breaking some and bumping into John Watson. However something about this man is awfully odd, not everything is as it seems, which Sherlock is naturally intrigued by.
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I want to write a novel and this was the idea for it, since I know it will never be published I might as well make it into a fanfic of my two favourite characters. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this :)

Sherlock had become accustomed to the noise that would always come from the room next door. If it wasn’t the crying children, it was the useless parents screaming and fighting each other. Some days it felt almost impossible not to go round and give them a piece of his mind, given that Sherlock wasn’t one to win many fights he thought better of it. His mind was always and will always be stronger than his physical form. 

“You’d think they would tone it down for some of the inspections wouldn’t you?” Greg said, not really to Sherlock but to himself, if Sherlock responded which he rarely did, it was a bonus. 

Greg was the one lucky induvidual that got to live with Sherlock. They had been given their accomadations and told who they were to share with. Most families got to stay together, however as they were both single and alone they were put together. 

“Quite, think you should go round, have a chat.” Sherlock responded standing from their lousy sofa and strolling over to the window to check outside. 

“Yeah but if they keep making all that noise surely they will chuck them onto the streets... they won’t last very long out there.” Greg said visably shivering at the thought of living outside, continuing to scan the pages of the newspaper that someone who lived below had lended him. 

To put it simply if you were to be chucked on the streets, you disapear and you don’t come back. Problem solved for the people that misbehave. Sherlock doubted it would ever be allowed for him to be one of those people as he was under Mycroft’s protection.

The streets were quiet today not many people walking to the ration station and only one small patrol of military officers walking the streets. 

“Tell the officers at the next inspection.” Sherlock said irritably. If Greg had no intentions of complaining about them then he should stop. Sherlock was starting to get annoyed by the same conversations all the time. 

He was fond of Greg which was a massive statement for Sherlock and an even bigger compliment for Greg, as he disliked everyone he came into contact with. He was smarter than people gave him credit for however his trivial moaning was his greatest downfall in Sherlock’s eyes. 

“Got some information that might cheer you up Sherlock.” he stated changing the subject completely. 

“I don’t need cheering up. Nevertheless carry on.” Sherlock enquired as he raised his eyebrow. 

“That guy, Will was it? that we met last week has managed to get information on where we can steal a laptop.” he said putting the newspaper down and looking over to Sherlock. 

“It seems we are to be common criminals then.” He sighed, “An abandoned warehouse I’m guessing?”

“Yeah.. except it’s not abandoned, only a few guards though I reckon we can handle it.” 

“Interesting, why’s Will giving us this information? Bit odd as you’ve only met him twice in total i’m guessing. Unless you run off to little secret cafes together.” Sherlock finished sarcastically. 

“I dunno maybe he’s just nice, does happen.” 

“I highly doubt that Greg, use that brain of yours that you are so keen to remind me on having, somethings not adding up about this.”

“We might have to wait months for another chance though. We will just have to be extra careful.” 

“Could do with an idiot to use as a decoy, take the attention away from us if it was to be a set up. we sneak in un-noticed as said idiot is being interrogated and later imprisoned for the good of us two.” Sherlock glanced at Greg who was disapproving of the plan but willing to go along with it. As there was nothing better to do. 

“You go to the club and find a local moron, some deadbeat to set up, tell them they get a big cut of whatever we find, whatever just to get them on side and willing to do it.” Sherlock said while starting to prepare their things for a break in. 

Greg got his coat and shoes on and was nearly out the door before Sherlock summoned him back into the flat. 

“Don’t screw this up.” Sherlock stated not looking in his direction. 

Greg rolled his eyes and left and returned a few hours later, knocking on the door four times to signal it was him. Sherlock opened the door and greg and said idiot walked in. 

Sherlock grabbed the backpacks he had prepared for both himself and Greg. “Name?” Sherlock asked bluntly not really caring who this man was but he felt it was necessary to build an amount of trust, even if he only needed it for thirty minutes or so. 

“Dave.” the man was certainly accustomed to high levels of violence from all the scars covering his face, not very noticible in places, still noticible enough for Sherlock, he was recovering from a leg injury judging by his stance and current way of holding himself upright. His shirt was slightly covered in blood, no doubt from him being beaten up not so long ago, probably a mugging.. hence why he was now stood infront of Sherlock in desperate need of the rations he saw Greg pulling out from their hiding place. 

“You offered him rations.” Sherlock said, more a statement rather than a question. 

“Yeah it was the only thing he wanted.” 

“I need paying before the job.” Dave said holding his hand out.

“That wasn’t part of the deal.” Greg said taking a step away holding the rations behind his back. 

“Give them to him, he’s in no state to be doing a runner, he’d give up after ten floors of this building with the leg injury he’s trying so desperately to cover up.” 

“You’re not going to need me to run on this job are you?” Dave asked. 

“Oh no, I’m sure you won’t be doing any of that.” Sherlock stated smiling to himself, knowing full well that this man wasnt leaving that warehouse as soon as they arrived. “let’s be on our way then.” Dave left first and Sherlock and Greg gave each other a look of ‘nice choice’ and ‘do it yourself next time.’

They arrived at the warehouse and sure enough it wasn’t abandoned. On the way over Greg had kept the light hearted chit chat up with Dave, to keep the atmosphere seemingly normal. 

Three guards Sherlock counted spying on them with bonoculars that he had stolen from Mycroft’s luxurious establishment months ago.

“We need to disorientate the guards in order the take them out, that’s where you come in Dave. there should be some switches near the shutter, you need to press them, this will turn the lights out and give me and Greg, who will be behind them. Enough time to knock them out. We’ll lift  
the shutter for you to climb under and send a message through on this to signal you of when to knock the power out.” 

Dave nodded accepting the burner phone and stuffing it in his pocket. They walked over to the shutter and with great difficulty and lifted it just high enough for Dave to crawl inside. They dropped it back to the ground and went to go get into position. 

“I need to congratulate you on your choice of idiot this one is truly up there.” Sherlock smiled.

“What do you mean?” Greg said confused as he was being left in the dark about the plan once again. 

“That imbecile is about to set off the alarms with absolutely no way of escaping other than through that shutter that requires two men to lift. 

“You know I gave him fake rations too.. he didnt even check.” Greg said with actual disbelief like he couldn’t believe that some people really were that dense. 

“I need to stop calling you an idiot, you’re on par with great scientists when compared to him.” Sherlock was laughing now. 

“Shut up.” Greg muttered. 

Sherlock and Greg found a side door that the guards were barely monitoring to slip in through while Sherlock sent a message over to Dave. Who as Sherlock had said set the alarms off and attracted the attention of two of the guards, judging by the amount of impacts of footsteps Sherlock heard going towards that direction. 

Sherlock signalled to Greg to be alert incase they ran into the other guard, they moved almost silently across the warehouse, spotting the offices up a set of stairs. The alarm had been silenced by now so they didn’t have very long or the noise to cover the sound of them moving around. 

Sherlock used some bobby pins to unlock the door and they both slipped inside closing the door quietly behind them.. sure enough there was laptops, seven of them in total. The amount of money they’d get for these was unreal. People would do all sorts to get their hands on them. 

That’s when they both stopped and looked at each other. They could hear muffled noise coming from behind the desk to their right. Sherlock slowly approached the desk, there was a man gagged and tied up to the radiator appearing to he asking for help, he didn’t seem distressed just more like his restraints were uncomfortable. Which in itself was extremely odd. 

Greg peered round Sherlock and gasped when he saw the blonde stranger.

“Leave him. Just get the laptops.” 

“We can’t just leave him here Sherlock, look what they’ve done to him.” 

“He seems fine to me.” Sherlock answered honestly, the man really looked like he was fine. 

“For once i’m not listening to you.” 

Sherlock rolled his eyes in responce while checking out the office window. They would have company in about three minutes he guessed. “Great so now our theft has turned into babysitting. How delightful.” Sherlock said unamused.


	2. Chapter 2

Greg hastily untied the rope that was holding the strangers hands together and ripped the tape off his mouth, to which the man only stared at them both blankly. “You okay?” he asked concerned. 

The man just frowned out him in confusion and stood up brushing himself down. Sherlock stood there analysing the man seeing if there was any information he could pull apart from him. There wasn’t much. He could see that he used to be a soldier, clearly left the army with an injury.. nothing after that was becoming clear. 

“Quiet.” Sherlock demanded, while moving swiftly but silently over to the door, both Greg and the stranger following him. As they made way for the exit of the warehouse. 

“Do you speak?” Greg asked quietly.

“Yeah.” 

“Got a name?” Greg asked realising that this man was nearly as difficult to get words out of than Sherlock. 

“John.” He answered still not willing to give out anymore information. 

“Who tied you up?” Sherlock asked. 

“Some guys.” John answered shrugging like it was nothing. Interesting Sherlock thought. Why was this man so unbothered by clearly being held hostage?

We’re taking him to Will.” Sherlock said. 

“Um okay... why?” Greg said genuinely confused. Sherlock couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man, it must feel awful to be ten steps behind him in brain power. 

“Will clearly wanted us to find John, why else would he be so keen to tip us off about the laptops. Clearly John is worth more, so we cash him in.” Sherlock said. 

“What if he kills him.” Greg said defensively, “we can’t let him kill him.” 

“We barely know this man or anything about him, he could have been tied up for good reason. Besides we’ve gave people to the dogs before, why’s this any different?” 

“No Sherlock, you do that. Not me.” Greg argued losing his shit abit now. He never agreed with using people as bait. He wasn’t someone that valued so little of other peoples lives. “We’re not doing it.” Greg finished the conversation. 

Sherlock only rolled his eyes in responce and they all stayed silent for the rest of the walk home. It was dark now and if they were to be caught out after dark they would be fined by the military or worse shot. Depending on their current moods. 

They managed to arrive back at the flat in one piece, only having to hide in a few alleyways on the way home so they weren’t spotted. Sherlock immediately slumped down onto the sofa while Greg started pouring himself a drink of some of his whiskey he’d managed to aquire playing some dodgy blackjack at the tables in the casinos.

While the blonde man was standing awkwardly by the front door still, staring at all their belongings. Now the lights were on his face Sherlock could study him a bit better. He had a striking resemblance to someone that Sherlock once knew that just didn’t sit right with him, he just put it down to coincedence for the time being. 

“Will’s going to start asking questions. I see two options. Either we play dumb like we never even saw... John.” Using the strangers name for the first time felt foreign to him and made him lose track of what he was saying for a split second. “Doubt he’d believe that though.” Sherlock finished recomposed.

“Option two, we give him over to Will.” 

“Let’s just say that we never even went there.” 

“Then he reads the paper and see’s our break-in as the top headline, think even Will would put two and two together Greg.” 

“We could just avoid Will?” 

“Tedious.” Sherlock muttered sighing afterwards. 

“Tedious?” Greg inquired.

“Well now we’re going to have to go to the next town to sell those laptops. Will was our only buyer and now your decision to bring this strange mute man home with us has caused alot of hinderances Greg, we could have avoided all of this extra legwork.”

They both sighed and looked over to John simultaneously, who was just staring at them both. Clearly enjoying them bickering from the smirk that was on his face. 

“Something funny?” Sherlock asked with a harsher tone than was probably necessary, but this man had ruined his plans and made his life even harder than it already was, so he wasn’t going to get any niceties from him. 

“You’re an odd pair.” John said, and it left the pair speechless as he picked up Gregs whiskey and sniffed it, before downing the glass. 

‘Really... he thinks we’re the weird ones.’ The thought ran through both Sherlock and Gregs minds. 

“We could try and sell them to Miss Adler?” Greg said breaking the awkward silence that had fallen upon them. 

“That hotel is always trouble.” Sherlock said and he was right. The hotel was abandoned when the new system came in. So it was left and taken over by thugs all apart of miss Adlers crew. It sounds like theyre all muscle but really they are all complete weirdos who somehow are ruled by Miss Adler, everyone knew not to mess with them, only because of their unpredictability.

Everyone tried to stay far away from the hotel, however Greg was suggesting that they willingly went there. “Plus Adler isn’t very fond of us after we played against her that one night at the casino.” Sherlock finished. 

“Do we leave him here?” Greg said looking back over to John who was still just taking in everything they were saying, watching them intently. 

“I would say no but they will definitely search the place due to us not returning to them with the laptops or John, so he’s going to have to come with us.” Sherlock said begrudgingly. 

“Tired.” John interrupted them both stopping them dead in their tracks. “I’m gonna sleep in there.” He said gesturing over to Sherlock’s bedroom. 

“No, you’re sleeping on the sofa.” Sherlock said quickly stepping infront of John to stop him from going into his bedroom. But John only pushed him aside and climbed into Sherlock’s bed anyway. “I hate him.” Sherlock said looking over to Greg, who didn’t really know what to do at this point apart from say sorry and quickly shift into his own bedroom. 

Sherlock turned back around and saw the blonde hair sticking up over the duvet and he felt his heart stop for a moment, he was having deja-vu. He shivered and closed the bedroom door unable to look at the man sleeping in his bed as it was making him uneasy. 

He resented John but he couldn’t understand why, he just knew that everytime he looked at him he felt guilty. He’d repressed a memory and was unable to obtain the information in his brain, so instead he had to endure the torture of seeing this blonde man. 

“Ugh.” Sherlock huffed irritably grabbing his coat to use as a blanket over himself while he lay on the sofa.

He wasn’t going to actually allow himself to fall asleep, not with this strange man in their flat. Unfortunately, the more John spoke the more questions that arose. He was truly an enigma. 

Sherlock lulled over in his mind of old times, when he could walk the streets at night without a patrol of soldiers stopping him, when he could clear his mind with the cold London air. It was a luxary that was taken for granted. If there was one thing he missed it was his freedom. Being cooped up and given a set of rules that we standard and repetetive was doing nothing to keep Sherlock’s brain active. 

It was the whole reason why he agreed to help his flat mate make enough money to hopefully fund an investigation to find his missing wife and child. Sherlock doubted they would ever be found, but it made Greg feel hopeful and made him look less depressed everyday, so he promised to help. 

The only way to make money nowadays was through dodgy deals with criminals and becoming criminals themselves.

He decided to come up with a plan of action on how they were going to get to the hotel without being caught. The hotel was out of bounds you were not supposed to cross the border and head out of town. They’d be alright walking the streets normally for some time, but as soon as they approached the border they were going to need to slip away. 

It wasn’t safe for him to sleep, not while a complete stranger was sleeping in his bed. They had no idea how dangerous this man actually was or why he was wanted by so many. He was going to keep an eye on him, even if Greg was too naive to see a problem. Greg was too trusting. 

“On second thoughts i’m not very tired.” He heard coming from the doorway to his bedroom. Sherlock sat up in surprise, sure enough John was stood their staring at him. 

“Huh?” Sherlock asked genuinely confused. Again. 

“You don’t trust me.” He said still not breaking eye contact with Sherlock. 

“Naturally not. Would be incredibly idiotic to have a single amount of trust in you, when you won’t even tell us who you are.” Sherlock said bluntly.

There was a silence.

“Should rest though might have to fight off some common criminals tomorrow.” Sherlock said breaking the silence after it had become a bit too awkward, even for himself who enjoyed the silence. 

“I can handle myself.” John said. “I’ve killed people.”

“See that’s the sort of statement that makes me distrust you further.” Sherlock replied, to which John just laughed but Sherlock found it to be incredibly frustrating and unfunny. “You were a soldier.” 

John raised an eyebrow, “How’d you know that?” 

“It was obvious. The way you hold yourself, your general physique, there’s an injury too I’ve caught you limping several times. Not a physical injury anymore, more psychosomatic because it comes at times when you’re relaxed.” 

“Right.” John said and went quiet again looking like he was contemplating asking something. 

“What is it.”

“You just seem... familiar.” He finished. “I feel like I’ve forgotten something important.” 

Sherlock saw that in him, everytime he glanced at him it looked like he was deep in thought trying to remember something he’d forgotten. 

He put it on his list to ask Miss Adler if she had any information on John. If someone was bound to know something it was her. She knew most secrets. He needed to find out who this man was the sooner he did the better.


	3. Chapter 3

The hotel was a worn down building with lots of overgrowth, bits completely falling apart. Nothing outside of the town had any upkeep or looking after. So it was the perfect hideout for good for nothing criminals. 

They had walked since the early morning, making sure they missed the military as it was illegal to leave your houses until after 9 in the morning. Yet, in order to reach the hotel before dark they needed to leave earlier, which Sherlock estimated and he was never wrong. 

The night before talking to John had left him with a strange feeling and one that he couldn’t understand. John hadn’t spoken to either of them all morning which didn’t really bother him, however Greg was not fond of silence it made him feel uncomfortable. 

“So..” Greg started to speak but Sherlock cut him off. 

“You know I don’t enjoy small talk.” he responded.

“You don’t know what I was going to say.” 

“You were going to ask me what i thought of John.” Sherlock said. “Truth be told he makes me feel uncomfotable and he’s definitely hiding something.” 

“You’ve not figured it out?” Greg asked, he knew Sherlock was good at reading people. He was hoping he would have quite alot of information that he’d deduced about John by now.

“I know some information.. but there’s some bits of information I just can’t understand like someones stripped him of the evidence.” 

“Like they’ve covered it up?” 

“Exactly, half the time he looks like he doesn’t even know his own name.” 

“Yeah he’s zoned out right now.” Greg whispered. 

“Down.” John shouted, making them both stop in their tracks, they both looked at him and he was signalling that they hide. They both moved to the right hiding behind an old abandoned petrol station, while John ran to the left taking cover behind some trees. “Movement.” 

Sherlock spotted where he was looking straight away, right at the end of the road there were some men approaching them. They looked like they were laughing amongst themselves seemingly unaware that they were there. 

Sherlock held a finger up to his mouth to tell them both to be quiet. “Go in there and wait.” He told Greg who listened to him and shuffled into the petrol station. 

Sherlock glanced over to John who seemed once again unbothered by the current situation. Sherlock moved over hiding behind a car that was parked up on the road. He gestured for John to cross the road and hide with them in the petrol station. The men were close now and they might spot John if he ran across so he had to pick his moment with precision. 

One of the men dropped something and their attentions were all caught for a second this was there chance. “Quick,” Sherlock whispered. 

John ran but tripped up so Sherlock ran out to grab him and pull him towards the car. They both flopped down onto the ground, luckily Sherlock had managed to pull them to cover behind the car. But they still could of heard them. Sherlock froze for a moment but quickly snapped back into action. Pushing John off him and sitting up to check through the cars windows on the mens locations. 

John readjusted himself shortly after, he grabbed hold of Sherlock’s sleeve pulling him up and into the petrol station. Sherlock followed not really having any choice. 

“They could of saw us I didn’t get sights on them.” Sherlock grumbled angrily pulling his sleeve back from Johns grip. 

“If we stayed out there they would have seen us and killed us anyway.” John answered. 

“Killed us?” Greg asked swallowing the lump that had quickly formed in his throat. 

“Theyre the men from the warehouse clearly looking for their precious cargo.” Sherlock said glaring at John. 

John unbothered by his gaze, “There approaching the door.” 

Greg hid behind the counter while John ran behind the door ready for when it opened, Sherlock was looking for a back door that they could sneak out of. 

However he snapped his head back to where John was when the door was kicked down. Sherlock was about to assist John instead but it seemed he didn’t need the help. He disarmed the man with ease, pointing the gun he’d taken from him at his head. 

“You’re not going to shoot us, you didn’t the last time I’m sure you wont now.” 

John slowly lowered the fire arm much to Sherlocks dismay. Luckily Greg was still hiding and they hadn’t seem him. 

“Who are you?” Sherlock asked.

“Nobody you need to worry about, just give us John back.” The man said with a smirk. 

“What’s in it for me.” Sherlock said and John glanced at him then and for once had an expression on his face that didn’t seem completely oblivious. He genuinely looked a little hurt. It only pained Sherlock slightly. 

“What do you want?” The man asked. 

“A car would be nice, make sure it’s a good one too, start it before you take John don’t try to trick me it doesn’t work.” 

“Very well, a car it is.” 

“Oh and I want the gun.” Sherlock said again and the man raised an eyebrow, he was right to be concerned the man that had stole from him was now asking for one of his guns. “Make sure that’s loaded too.” 

“We’re not giving you the gun.” 

“Then you cant have John.” 

“I don’t want things to get messy I’ve got instructions not to hurt you.” 

“Who would have any interest in me.” Sherlock said angrily. He was starting to get very irritated by all the enigmas around himself. 

The man took the gun out of John’s hand and John didn’t even fight him for it he practically handed it over. They had some sort of control over him. 

“Good faith.” The man said holding the gun out.

Sherlock took the weapon from the mans hands, “The car?” 

“It’s on it’s way the boys got one to drive up from the warehouse shouldn’t be very long now.” He replied while his two henchmen came in and started to restrain John once again. Tying his hands up and putting tape over his mouth. John didn’t struggle just stood there looking defeated. Once again seeing a different emotion on John’s face other than bewilderment was so foriegn to Sherlock, it again left that weird feeling in his stomach. 

Soon enough they heard a car pull up outside and they started to move John out there. Sherlock paused after them quickly tossing the gun over to Greg who was hiding behind the counter still undetected. 

They threw the keys to the floor infront of Sherlock as he left the petrol station and he quickly picked them up, he gave John a quick glance but the look in his eyes was killing Sherlock he for once felt guilty. 

The men shifted John over to there own vehicle just about to leave before they were stopped by Sherlock’s voice again. “What do you want with him anyway, why’s he so important?” 

“He’s a gift.” The man answered. 

“A gift for who?” Sherlock could see Gregs reflection in the car window. 

“You ask so many questi-“ The man was silenced by a bullet that ripped through his shoulder. The man fell to the ground as he grasped at his new wound. 

The other two men tried to quickly reach for their guns but Sherlock had already crossed over and tackled the one man to the ground. While John managed to kick the other down by kicking him in the back of his shin. 

Sherlock quickly grabbed the gun from the mans pocket and pointed it at them both. Greg came round the car to untie John’s hands and John quickly grabbed the other gun. 

“Your boss, who is it?” Sherlock asked moving the gun closer to the mans head. 

“Can’t tell.” 

Sherlock shot him in the leg. “Who is you boss?” He asked even firmer this time. 

“We don’t know.” The henchman said and he was telling the truth. Sherlock then looked over to the man that was in charge who had lost alot of blood by now. “You’re dying but there’s still time to hurt you.” Sherlock said. 

“We don’t actually know his name, he’s clever like that..” The mans eyes slid shut and he was gone. 

Sherlock sighed, “How irritating.” He checked him over for I.D and found some in his coat pocket. The man was called James Johnson. 

“Tie them up.” Sherlock said to Greg who listened to him, while Sherlock walked over to John and slowly took the tape off his mouth. “You okay?” He asked. 

John didn’t answer just stared at him. They were standing a little too close so Sherlock took a step back feeling a little uncomfortable, “I wasn’t going to allow them to take you, you know that right?” 

“You don’t trust me and I don’t trust you.” Was all he said. 

Sherlock went quiet then and they were still just staring at each other. 

It was only when Greg said all done that it snapped them out of their staring competition. “Best get going then.” Greg said holding his hand out for the keys. 

Sherlock handed them over. “You should have shot him. Why didn’t you?” He asked. 

“I wanted too. But I couldnt do it, I couldn’t physically pull the trigger. Something stopped me.” John said he was masking well just how worried he really was about it. 

There was alot of things that didn’t make sense about the man and everytime they uncovered something else, it made everything just a little more confusing. 

Sherlock was going to figure it out.


End file.
